In this article I learned about all of the things we don’t know about the Nautilus. Marine Biologists are unable to determine the life span or how long it takes a nautilus to reach maturity.. They also cannot determine were they lay there eggs.
Nautilus shells are very unique and valuable. There are currently no laws protecting the taking of Nautilus’. Since we are unsure of there life span and maturity rate this could be a hazard to this cephalopod. If the life span of these animals is a log time then these animals may not bounce back from the hunting and trapping of many of them.
I really think its neat how this cephalopod can keep it a secret as to it’s maturity rate and life span. I still don’t understand how they can find the life span of tons of other animals but not this popular cephalopod.
Archive for the 'Thinking Critically' Category
The Mysterious Nautilus
Octopus Objects
I think that the fact that octopuses can learn simple tricks. It is so true that they are the smartest invertebrates. They can open jars and things with there tentacles. In captivity the keepers of these invertebrates are offered enrichment toys to stimulate their minds. Many holes were drilled in a 480 ml pill container to let the octopus to sense the food inside the container. To open the lid it had to push down on the lid at the same time as turning it and Billye the octopus finished this in 55 minutes. They do not have a lot of brain power but somehow this octopus could finish this simple human task.
How do you think that this octopus accomplished this task?
We have been learning a lot about how smart octopuses are and how they are the smartest invertebrates. These guys are very interesting. This article called “Smart Octopus?” told me that octopuses can do a number of very intelligent things. Some of them are they can learn simple mazes tell between shapes and patterns, use landmark navigation while foraging, use tools, show play behavior and have individual personalities. And these are all proven by scientists!
I was amazed at reading this. They are almost like humans in a freakish way. I also read that they had an octopus open a screw top lid to get out food. This is a very cool thing that octopuses can do. I learned that the yare not as smart as human children but are very smart creatures.
What else could they train octopuses to do in the future?
They say that the octopus is one of the most intelligent invertebrate. The octopus can solve some of the simplest maze, can tell the difference between shapes and patterns, use landmark navigation, use tools, and have individual personalities. People start doing tests for the octopus called “prey puzzles”. These puzzles have food inside child proof bottles and time the octopus to get it open. It was recorded that the octopus had opened the bottle in 55 minutes but they said that it was difficult to tell because of the eight tentacles.
Although the octopus may seem to be a smart animal but they may not be a super smart animal. A octopus does not have and use a lot of brainpower. The average human can about 100 billion neurons and an octopus has about 168 million neurons. I do think that this animal is pretty smart even though it doesn’t have a lot of brainpower. Who knows they might become smarter in the future.
What do you think will happen with the octopus in the future?
The article I read was about octopuses playing with toys. The scientists gave the octopuses 3 toys to play with. The 3 toys they gave them were a pair of pliers, a woven ball, and a cow with 3 things hanging off of it. They gave the toys to them several times a day and at least 2 hours apart from each other. They measured the amount of time they played with the toys and how many times they played with them.
In this study they found out that octopuses like the cow the most of the 3 toys. Through this study and other ones like it they found out that octopuses like toys with many moving parts and parts linked to other moving parts.
In this article, I learned about the mating techniques of Sepioteuthis squid in the Caribbean. Apparently, squid don’t think about mating until the end of their lifespan – and then they go all out. Squid orgies are best found in the early mornings and late afternoons as females test males and males compete with each other for attention. In order to stay safe from predators, squids mate in large groups from four to fifty.
Researchers have noticed that while mating, Sepioteuthis use various skin signals to communicate. Firstly, they usually match up into same-sized pairs and then the skin shifting begins. When a male is interested, they coloring changes to Stripe, which is “a pair of wide black longitudinal stripes on either side of the mantle, with paler areas in between.” If a female is interested, they reciprocate by changing their skin color to what observers labeled as Saddle, which is when the “mantle goes white, except for a thin line of dark brown on the very anterior like a saddle over her body.” When a male is intent to mate, he begins flickering. When competing with another male, they’re color takes on a sort of Zebra like pattern. Sepioteuthis males are even capable of isolating different parts of their body to send different signals. On one side they can attract a female while simultaneously warding off competitors on another part of their mantle.
What I found most interesting about the article is the way they mate. After laying on top of one another and rocking back and forth, “males pass spermatophores to the female by sticking them onto her skin just below her eyes.” Then, the female “takes them and puts them in her mantle cavity, where the sperm are stored for later fertilization of her eggs.” She can do this with many males, storing different sperm in different areas, before she chooses which one she really wants to use for fertilization. Imagine that!
A question I still have though is how do the squid know when they’re lifespan is nearing it’s end? You never know which day is your last, a squid could be swimming freely one morning and be dinner that same day.
In the article “The Perils of the Pearly Nautilus” by Dr. Neale Monks we learn of the severe and potentially species endangering market for Nautilus shells. These beautiful shells are found for sale all over the world. Unfortunately, the Nautilus itself lives only in deep waters (more than 150 m) in the small area known as the Indo West Pacific. In a few specific areas, such as the waters off of the coast of Indonesia, the exportation of Nautilus’ is illegal. However, in most places it is both legal as well as highly unregulated.
Because of this lack of fishery regulation, it is hard to know how the Nautilus populations are doing, or whether or not they are being over-fished. Also, because they reproduce and mature at a slow rate, it would be very difficult for the Nautilus to come back from a period of over-fishing. This is the same type of situation that we have faced repeatedly with many different animals such as whales and elephants. The Nautilus however has been around far longer than these creatures.
I find it amazing that not only were these animals swimming in the oceans while dinosaurs walked the Earth, but that they were around far before that as well. They have been a part of this world for over 500 million years! I also wonder why we, as humans, have not been able to recreate their natural habitat in a captive situation well enough for them to be able to breed. It would be interesting to know what different variables have been tried in the creation of captive habitat for the Nautilus.
It is sad to think of creating a captive version of the Nautilus, but perhaps if we could, then we would be able to save the wild species. If we were able to create a habitat that the Nautilus would live and breed in comfortably, then we would be able to not only raise and harvest the captive Nautilus to supply the demand for their shells, but also save the original wild Nautilus as well.
Aging Ammonites
There are a lot of unanswered questions when it comes to the study of Ammonites. A common organism millions of years ago, we see many fossils of them today. These fossils are what provide the base of information that we do know about these ancient creatures. They were mollusks with spiral shaped shells separated into chambers. These chambers found in the shell may be indicators of the age of ammonites. The more chambers and hence the bigger the shell, the older the ammonite was. Much of the things we do know about ammonites comes from our knowledge of a similar animal that still exists today as well as during the existance of ammonites – the nautilus.
In fact much of what we know about ammonites comes from animals other than the ammonite itself. Animals that grew on and with the ammonite like tube worms can be compared to find growth rate and other aspects of the ammonite’s pathology. For example the tube worms still exist today and can be used to note the development of the ammonite that fossils show to be the host of these worms.
I thought the oxygen isotope indicators in the ammonites shell is really interesting. Not only can researchers use these isotopes to predict how long it took and the way in which each chamber in the shell formed but they also serve as an indicator of the conditions of the water that the ammonite lived in or was exposed to. Different patterns in the shell when compared to these isotopes suggest warmer and cooler water.
What other kinds of organic chemicals or isotopes found in their shell can be used to gather more information about ammonites?
The blue ringed octopus is one of the most deadly marine animals on the planet. A bite could kill a person in several minutes. The venom comes from the saliva and when bitten the victim starts to feel the symptoms in minutes, symptoms like numbness, muscular weakness, nausea, and difficulty breathing or swallowing. The toxin found in the blue ringed is very similar to the extremely deadly toxin found in puffer-fish. One milligram of the TTX toxin could kill a person making it one of the most potent natural toxins on the planet. No antidote has been found for the toxin, I wonder what kind of medical discoveries could be made with the study of the blue ringed octopus.